Take a moment and look at a picture near you. What did you see? How long did it take you to understand what was in the image, meaning how long did it take you to realize the green blob was a tree? Or that the orange circle was a piece of fruit? Most likely you assume that it took you no time at all, you just knew.
Psychologists who study how we perceive images used to think that, before the process of object recognition and categorization could begin, the brain must first separate
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a cluster of 12 genes on the X chromosome in mice that appears to play an important role in reproduction. Reporting in the journal Cell, the scientists showed that knocking out just one of the genes resulted in reduced fertility in male mice.
The researchers found the cluster, which they dubbed the reproductive homeobox X-linked (or Rhox) genes, is selectively expressed in male and female reprod
Researchers in California, Israel, and Germany have compared three distantly related species – baker’s yeast, a worm, and the fruit fly – and reported that protein “wiring” connections in one species are often conserved in all three. This first-of-its-kind analysis of three higher level organisms published in the February 8 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports both the concept of a basic wiring diagram for all eukaryotic cells, and the idea that more selective pha
Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at the Free University of Brussels have recently published results that show promise in the quest for a new remedy for chronic urinary tract infections. The researchers have shown that administration of the sugar Heptyl-á-D-mannoside can prevent E. coli bacteria from binding to the wall of the urinary tract − which is the first step in the development of the infection.
A widespread problem
A new MORI survey published today is the first to take a wide-ranging look at the issues of reliability of information found on the Internet, and the extent to which users feel they can trust the information they find there.
The reputation of an organisation and the trustworthiness of the content of websites are important factors in people’s attitudes, the survey found. Information provided via the websites of more established organisations such as museums, libraries and archive
The single-celled organisms of the world’s oceans are immensely diverse. For the ‘International Census of Marine Microbes’ scientists are going to track down knowledge on the diversity and distribution of these micro-organisms and their viruses. The budget? 900,000 dollars of the Sloan Foundation in New York to start with. On February 7 and 8, the steering committee from America and the Netherlands will gather for the first time.
Goal of the International Census of Marine Microb